North Africa and Middle East

From the earliest rumblings of discontent in Tunisia at the turn of the year, it was clear that old images of Arab women as deferential, subservient and generally indoors would have to be revised. From the highly-educated Tunisian female elite of doctors, barristers and university professors to the huge numbers of unemployed female graduates, women were key players in the uprising that launched the Arab spring.

The woman in Tahrir Square was worried. "The men were keen for me to be here when we were demanding that Mubarak should go," she told me when I visited Cairo last month. "But now he has gone, they want me to go home".

The future of women's rights in the Arab Spring countries has been an open worry in recent months. Observers have noted there are no women in the transitional government in Egypt. Fundamentalist elements in Yemen that had opposed raising the marriage age for girls, currently at 8 years old, are among the chief opposition forces trying to bring down the Saleh government. Paraphrasing T.S. Eliot, spring might well be the cruelest season for women in the Arab world.

The Arab Spring created hope for democracy in which women would at least have a voice. But we're still waiting.

Following a five-month stalemate, Lebanons prime minister has finally announced his 30-member cabinet. News reports have concentrated on the representation of various religious factions. But there has been little attention to the fact that all 30 ministers are men. Recent Lebanese governments were dominated by men, but not to the total exclusion of women.

Stubbornness and domination have become characteristics to be admired in the male with varying degrees in the entire Arab world. Girls are encouraged to defer to their brothers, and taught to hide their intelligence and good sense in discussions with their male counterparts. Males are burdened from an early age to assume the mantle of family leadership, and encouraged to see themselves as protector of the extended family against all external threats.

My interest in political and human rights and social media started recently with the revolution in Egypt. Before January 2011, politics and human rights never interested me. But like many other Arab youth, the changes in the Arab world opened my eyes and mind to a new world. And there is no turning back.

WLP International spoke with Asma Khader, Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women and General Coordinator of Sisterhood is Global Institute/Jordan, about the outcomes of a conference in Amman convened by the SALMA network from October 27-29, 2011, where she shared Jordan’s recent experience with constitutional reform.

The subjection of Arab women will be inevitable if Islamist political parties seize power in the countries of change, where coups or uprisings took place this year. The condition of women in Iran in the wake of Khomeini’s revolution in 1979 bears living testimony to the fate of Arab women, if they make similar mistakes and fail to rebel early on and in a comprehensive fashion.

The Arab Spring has provided a platform to the unsung heroes of the Arab world. Women have always been behind-the-scene participants in the old order of Middle Eastern politics. With the rise of social media, women are finally coming out of their cocoons and taking centrestage in shaping the new geo-politics of the Middle East.